First Line of Defence: Final Chapter (Patreon)

This is a fun short book, so I hope you had fun reading it. Leave a comment expressing your opinion. I won't be upset if you didn't like it or didn't like some aspect of it. I've got a thick skin. Chapter 19

The Way The Dominos Fall.

I’d spent the last two and a half Cycles raiding the Horde’s sector, screaming at them for entering my territory and then not paying the tribute I demanded, despite my crusade starting only a couple of hours after they attacked me. The fact the Kilocksin attack had made it impossible for them to meet my demands was something I was wilfully ignoring. I’d even raised the amount of tribute they had to send through my station from 10% to 25% when they eventually restored their systems.

I’d utterly destroyed their first system, bombarding it back into the stone age, finishing off the Kilocksin’s work, before moving on to the following systems. The Kilocksin had accepted my offer and conditions, and a convoy of corvettes and freighters had passed through the transit ring within a few hours of starting the invasion. They arrived well before my station could repair the damage, I intentionally caused it to let them pass through safely.

The Kilocksin had to spend a ridiculous amount of resources to get through in time, but the payoff was worth it.

I’d accidently destroy some of the fleet when the station repaired a few weapons and auto targeted them, but the ones that made it through reached the Horde’s planet and set up regeneration chambers and industrial fabricators, bringing in waves of their people, to strip the systems of every credit they could.

They’d shipped entire cities of scrap to my station for sale, turning them into massive balls of slag, strapping a small engine to them to push them to my station for sale. The Uon and Octorin started a bidding war, buying them as quickly as they appeared. So, the Kilocksin were making bank, even if they couldn’t take any of the resources for themselves. I’d tried to get humanity to participate, but they weren’t organized. It was a massive, missed opportunity.

But my position was secure.

The trade going through my station meant the credits were rolling in, and the RP was stacking up. My holographic display showed a new ball of metal appearing through the transit ring every few minutes. Trading vessels were coming from the Uon and Octorin and nearly the same rate. This level of trade was what a good station was supposed to see.

My corvette drone fleet I controlled still had two-thirds of its ships, and it looked like I’d finish my attack on the eleventh system by the time they got a large enough force together to wipe it out sometime later tomorrow.

Now, if only the rest of humanity's situation was as good as my station’s, then I wouldn’t have this cold feeling in my gut. The 20th cycle was turning out to be everything we feared it would be.

“We just lost another station, this one led to Sector 17,” Tee said quietly.

The map of the area around my station shifted. In its place was a local galaxy map of the human sectors. With the new station upgrades, Tee had managed to piece together what our local branch of the galaxy looked like. None of humanity’s sectors bordered one another, everything was at least two sectors away, and everyone else was in the same position. All the factions attacking us were trying to push closer towards their faction’s other territory. Five of our sectors now glowed red. Two shone green and the rest were a neutral yellow, including Sector 13.

“That makes it the fifth sector we’ve lost today,” I said unhappily. “But the first of the ones we thought we could keep.”

There were three maps on the viewscreen. Alex, Daniel, and The Librarian’s stations were all under attack. The factions attacking Daniel and The Librarian were alone, so they opted to challenge their stations, hitting them as hard as possible. A win or lose scenario. I’d had a strong feeling that was exactly what they were going to do, and their local fleets were ready to support them, having to experience their first major engagement. The fleets weren’t doing well, but every little bit of support helped.

There was no way anyone was getting past my station anymore. Not when everything was level 10. My D2s could hit with more force than the R9s could at level 1, and their range was far beyond the current battlefield size. I needed to figure out what other weapons systems I was going to install, but that could wait a few Cycles. Now that I had all these options, I needed to get more creative.

I was glad my station was so powerful because it meant I could safely send the entire local fleet to reinforce Alex. She was having a rough time. Three faction attacks were not an easy thing to take care of, even with the help of a fleet made from half the systems in Sector 13, but if she survived, she’d have the second strongest station in our sector. And that’s all I cared about. I couldn’t help the other sectors, but I could help ours

Well, that wasn’t technically true.

At the end of the tutorial, I’d gained access to the challenger’s hall and challenger transit ring systems. They were currently under construction, but the build time for the level 10 systems was seven Cycles, and they wouldn’t be ready until the start of the 25thCycle. So, I could help soon, but not yet. That didn’t change my views, though. Humanity needed to fight. We needed to get stronger.

For that reason, I hadn’t told anyone how many Tokens I now had. Not even, Tee. I hadn’t told them that I could personally keep humanity alive and solve our problems until the start of the next season. People needed to do this for themselves. It was the only way we were going to be ready next time. If they coasted along because of what I’d done, then nothing would change. And we needed to change.

There was a big old universe, and most of it was against us.

“The station and inner ring have finished reconstruction,” Tee said. “I don’t know why you wanted it so big.”

The central station was now eight miles wide which was about where the edge of where the first ring had previously sat. I’d also changed the shape of the station from a sphere to a tiered, double-sided, circular ziggurat that kind of looked like a spinning top to make it look more in line with the inner ring, which was now gargantuan after growing to keep the same proportions.

“It’s to deal with the Clack Queens. They’re so damn big they turned my dungeon into a single room. Now I can make them fight their way through a dozen rooms.”

“That’s smart. The fleet is about to hit the tenth system. Do you want me to change the display?”

“I’m good. Now that the expansion is finished, I can finally get to work setting everything up.”

I pulled up the station's current information.

Station Name: The CrucibleLevel: 10Armor: 600Energy Shield: 100,000/100,000Damaged Systems: 0%Resource Points: 183,234,657Credits: 12,588,974,235 Station Systems:

-L10 Phoenix Reactor: 32,000E  -Secondary Phoenix Reactor: 32,000E-L10 Sensor Array-L1  Sensor Scrambler Array-L10 Communication Array -L10 Reprocessing Facility-L10 Weapons Fabricator-L10 Structural Fabricator

-L10 Missile Fabricator:-L10 Hangar Bay:-L10 Laboratory: -L10 Maintenance Drone Fabricator: -L10 Challenger Hall: -L10 Challenger Transit Ring:

Station Defence Slot: 1000/100,000 (Current Structure Max)

-L10 R2D2: 500 Inner Ring Defence Slots: 50,000/500,000 -L10 R2D2: 25,000

Station Development Weapons:

-L10 R2: 249 -L10 R2D2: 83-L10 Missile Battery: 249  -Hammerheads: 249  -Predator: 49-L10 R9: 16-L10 Hanger Bay: 12  -L10 Fighters: 2,988  -L10 Bombers: 1,494

My station was undoubtedly better than when I received it. I was significantly ahead of the curve, but my progress was going to stall. I was gaining 2.5 million experience points each Cycle from my station rats, but even with that, it would still take me an average of six Cycles to level without any attacks. When I reached level 20, the cost of leveling would increase again making it even harder. The RP I had coming in from the station rats was a joke at this point. So, it was time to move on to stage two for my plan for galactic domination.

I pulled up my recent achievements.

The moderator had taken all my experience, resource, and credit modifiers, and in return, doubled my path and class point rewards. For some achievement rewards, he’d taken more, but he’d also doubled the bonuses again when he had, and I had no clue what he’d taken, only that he’d taken something.

The EXP, RP, and credits that were part of the rewards had been traded for more Tokens which were nice, even though it wasn’t that helpful. But at least I’d got to keep some of my perks’ effects. And they were good, which made me wonder what the hell I’d lost.

Congratulation, you have successfully invaded a system! As the first member of your faction to achieve this result, you have been given an achievement reward:

+80 Path Points.

+800 Class Points

+10,000,000 Tokens

Invader Perk.

+10,000 Tokens a cycle.

+100% Attack and Defence when you are invading a system.

Congratulation, you have conquered a planet! As the first member of your faction to achieve this result, you have been given an achievement reward:

+160 Path Points.

+1600 Class Points

+100,000,000 Tokens

Planet Conqueror Perk.

+100,000 Tokens a cycle.

+100% Attack and Defence when attacking a planet.

Congratulation, you have conquered a system! As the first member of your faction to achieve this result, you have been given an achievement reward:

+320 Path Points.

+3200 Class Points

+1,000,000,000 Tokens

System Conqueror Perk.

+1,000,000 Tokens a cycle.

+100% Attack and Defence when you control a system.

Congratulation, you have invaded a second system and started a crusade! As the first member of your faction to achieve this result, you have been given an achievement reward:

+320 Path Points.

+3200 Class Points

+100,000,000 Tokens

Crusader Perk.

+100,000 Tokens a cycle.

+1% Attack and Defence when you fight any faction. The longer you fight, the more this bonus increases.

These achievements were insane compared to my earlier ones, but they were also harder to gain, and something a station master rarely earned. The damage modifiers were why I was able to steamroll the Horde. After the first system, it had gotten easier. As the king of Mars, I was able to declare war on them, which because of the first perk I received modified my damage further.

It pissed off a few governments back home because we could only declare war on one faction at a time, but I didn’t care. My station was humanities, best chance of not being kicked from the game. As long as I held on to it, no one could make us an independent faction.

The new path points called to me, asking to spend them, but I held back. I wanted to be ready to deal with what came next, but I didn’t know what that would be, and they provided an immediate change. The ability to add new weapons or systems to my station mid-battle was not something to be squandered. I was going to hold off on spending them for now.

I felt the same way about my class points. They could just sit there until I had a plan and better weapons.

“You should look into hiring researchers when you are back on Earth,” Tee said. “You’re going to want to research as quickly as you can now that your level 11. I know it seems okay to let the lab just tick over on the tech you’ve got right now, but a lab is only so fast by itself, and when you let it do research, automatically you strip your researchers of the opportunity to level.”

“I’ll add it to the list, but it’s not like there are many people on Earth who know what they are doing in that department. This tech is completely beyond our understanding.”

Tee groaned. “They don’t do actual research. They play puzzle games. Each time they clear a puzzle, they gain experience and progress the research.”

I hadn’t looking into how other people played the Game. I’d been too busy, but his answer surprised me. “Seriously, they play puzzle games.”

“Not everything in the Game is about combat. There are just as many support roles. There are entire factions who abhor violence, and the Peacekeepers give them a way to participate. What do you think the children from your world have been doing all this time?”

“I honestly hadn’t thought about it.”

“Well, they aren’t blowing things up, that’s for sure.”

“Good to know.”

“Unless their parents are nuts, so there are probably a few million who are blowing things up. Maybe a few tens of millions. A couple of hundred million tops. Though you do let children play violent video games, so maybe it’s like 50%. It can’t be more than 70%. I’m sure there are some decent parents out there. Did you play violent video games as a child? Of course, you did, but you turned out mostly alright, so the 90% of kids out there participating in the war effort should be fine.”

I tuned Tee out as he continued to babble but listened when he turned serious again.

“An information package on dungeons and dungeon mobs just became available for purchase. This special one-off item. It will give ever station master, station AI, and dungeon boss an information package on dungeons and dungeon mobs.”

That was intriguing. “How much does it cost?”

“Twelve and a half billion credits.”

That was stupidly expensive. “And the rest of our faction will learn from it?”

“Yes.”

“Why didn’t you suggest it earlier?”

“The bidding war on the second systems slag only finished recently, and I didn’t know you could purchase it until you had the credits to purchase it. It’s a hidden item. They appear from time to time. And before you think of saving up to find more, hidden items only appear one at a time. You need to buy this one to gain access to another.”

“Buy it and tell everyone it’s coming.”

“Done. Also, Daniel just won his battle. And he’s accepted his first prestige.”

I looked up. The battle was still raging on the viewscreen, but the battleships attacking his station were all destroyed. Now, all he had to do was mop up the weaker targets, and he was done.

“Why’d he prestige?”

“One of the factions that neighbours the one attacking him is massing at their ring. They’re going to make a move on the faction that just attacked him while they don’t have their fleet.”

I chuckled. “Makes sense. There is way more credits in invading a system than attacking a station. He should gain a fair bit of experience taking them out in transit.”

I spent the next eight hours going over the new information I was gaining, working through how everything fit together, letting the knowledge package add to my understanding while I worked. There was a lot to process. The station master knowledge from the special clearance rewards for the expansion quest had let me understand my role as a station master. This one let me understand how weapons systems created dungeon mobs and how dungeons worked.

It let me go through the R2D2 weapons system and understand how each component added up to creating the immortal soldiers. I wouldn’t be able to recreate it from scratch with this knowledge, but I would be able to make half decent dungeon mobs. It also let me go through the other stations masters unique weapon systems and systems and understand how good they were.

Alex’s reactor was top of the line, while the weapon Daniel had designed was only average. The Librarian’s station armour was even better than Alex’s reactor. The other station masters had also created several promising unique systems and weapons.

“The Librarian just won his engagement, and the final faction has begun their assault on Alex’s system. You finished looking at everyone’s toys.”

“Nope. I’ve got days of work ahead of me.”

The immortal soldiers had been ineffective against the Clack. The knowledge in my head, said that was because they weren’t designed to fight something that big. If I designed a second dungeon mob that could assist them, they could participate in that sort of fight. Hell, they could take down the Clack without the turrets if what the information package was telling me was true.

Tee asked me what I was doing, and I told him.

“I’ve got you covered,” he said.

A heavy railgun weapon system appeared in front of me. The name of the creator sat above it. It was a general from Germany.

“This baby will make short work of the Clack if they invade again,” he said.

The dungeon mob it produced was a massive four-legged combat drone that function liked a tank, but the weapon itself was terrible.

“This weapon sucks, Tee.

“It does?”

Tee sounded upset. He’d been actively trying to learn more about strategy, but there were only so many hours in the day, and he had to manage a trillion-dollar company as well. It would take him time to catch up.

“Yeah, this is the sort of weapon your build early game because it gives you an advantage, but the advantage quickly disappears as the game progresses.”

“But the dungeon mob is good, right?”

“The dungeon mob is good. The guy who made these has probably spammed the weapon system. In the future, he’ll only have one of these in his dungeon, because they’ll become redundant too.”

“They’re redundant?” Tee sounded despondent. He was really trying to be better.

“Just because something becomes redundant eventually, doesn’t mean it doesn’t have a place.”

“Oh, so he thinks about this weapon the way women think about your penis.”

I smirked, knowing he was making a joke because he was insecure. “No, I doubt he think it’s saintly.”

“How the hell do you quip that fast?”

I laughed. “Two older brothers.”

“I’ve met your brothers, and neither of them is that fast with comebacks.”

“You misunderstand, Tee. When you’re the smallest in the family of boys, the only way to win a fight is with words. You either learn how to use them, or you lose every fight.”

“You got your butt kicked a lot, didn’t you?”

“So much.”

Tee laughed. “Would you like me to bring up our invasion while we wait to see how Alex does?”

“Yeah, I might as well relax and try to ignore how badly we’re losing. It’s going to be political hell when we go back to Earth. Those that sided with us are going to be hailed as kings and queens for seeing what was coming, and those that didn’t are going to be trying to blame us and say we should have done more.”

“That’s the joys of being in charge.”

“I’m a figurehead. The moment I get the administrator, it’s taking over. Then when they finish making my country, I’m going to build myself a beachside bungalow, where I can spend my days fishing and swimming and generally relaxing, so I can focus on what’s important.”

“And what’s more important than holding General Primes alliance together?”

“Making a station that can survive independent of the human race when our last sector crumbles.”

“To what purpose?”

“Sanity. There is no way in hell I’m going to survive not playing the Game as a station master for the next 300 years if I get kicked out.”

Tee sighed. “You’re grinning again.”

The End